Misfits

[rating:4/5]

You can keep your skinny chinos and your Barbour coats, because this season all the cool kids are wearing orange jumpsuits. This can only mean one thing: Misfits is back.

For those of you who haven’t been living out your juvenile delinquency fantasies through the five tangoed friends over the previous two series, here’s a basic plot summary: some teenagers did some bad stuff; they all met and had to assume a lovely shade of tangerine attire and pick up litter; there was a big storm; they all got powers. And of course, there was a lot of ‘scenes of violence, sexual references and strong language from the start.’

The main characters, Curtis, Kelly, Alisha and Simon respectively possess the ability to change gender, design rockets, assume someone else’s mind set and glimpse into the future. Standard.

Orange is in this season

The new series certainly has the same light hearted humour with a bit of murder thrown in, like a cross between Midsomer Murders and Friends, but with fewer malodorous cats and village fetes. There still prevails a sense of irreverence and tongue in cheek humour and I think we all still fancy the chavvy one.

However, series three has one striking difference: Nathan, the curly haired and endearingly Irish Robert Sheehan, has dropped out of the show to persue proper stage acting and that. His absence was certainly a blow to the comedic value of the programme, but before you could pause 4OD in order to gasp hyperbolically, the addition of Rudy (Joe Gilgun) filled our need for a character that does dick jokes and feels up all the girls.

Each episode (like Skins) is focused on one character in particular, and this time it was the turn of new boy Rudy to reveal his multi-dimensional personality. Rudy’s power is that he can split himself into two; one side of him has neater hair and is deeply insecure whereas the other side of him is a messy-haired massive lad, obsessed with unsavoury sexual acts. The split in his character is well handled by Gilgun as he manages to entertain both sides in a quite exaggerated manner whilst retaining a sense of credibility in each part.

The powers have also had a shake up after the previous series saw the characters abandon their old time rewinding and sexual fantasy-inducing abilities to make way for sex changes and rocket scientists. This latter talent made for the most entertaining scene, when Kelly (Lauren Socha) is treated with ridicule when she presents her designs for an ‘inter-continental ballistic missile’ in her thick ‘Yehh mate’ Derbyshire accent. Hilarious.

The episode ended in true Misfits style with a Fatal Attraction bunny-boiler style murder and a deja-vu evoking angle shot from the perspective of the freshly dug grave. It’s all very familiar, but in maintaining its winning blend of comedy and the macabre, you’d be mad to miss Misfits.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7i-QPlQRfI